Assignment for DU re: illegal immigration and free trade.

[Skidmore]

Is illegal immigration a by-product of free trade? If so, how? How does a guest worker program address the problems of free trade?

Discuss.

[Solon]

1. Done and done...

I've been posting this type of stuff for weeks, and no one is interested, but what the hay, I'll try again!
In No particular order:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1123874

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1091375#1100349

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1064574

These aren't all of my posts, but some of them, with references as well.

[wtbymark]

2. a guest worker program should be tied to the fed min. wage

see haw many americans show up to pick lettuce then.

[Dr. Jones]

4. Americans WOULD pick lettuce if it paid a living wage.

Actually some Americans still do pick lettuce, but unfortunately most have been passed over for cheaper illegal labor.

[mike_c]

3. I've wondered about this too....

During the NAFTA years I've watched Mexico move more and more toward a U.S. style consumer economy, especially in the urban areas. I don't know whether this is BECAUSE of free trade agreements, or even whether it's a change for the better (I see it as wrecking a different way of life, but others likely view this transformation more positively). What all this has to do with illegal immigration is difficult to say, but it certainly highlights the degree to which Mexican life is changing. My sense is that the middle class is growing-- perhaps as a result of NAFTA-- but that the gulf seperating the poor from the middle class is widening too. These are just my impressions, however-- I don't live in Mexico, so perhaps someone who does can provide a more accurate response.

[Elwood P Dowd]

5. NAFTA has been a disaster for Mexico

http://www.tradealert.us/news_item.asp?NID=2024534



Published on Saturday, April 22, 2006 by the Minneapolis Star

Immigrant Surge is Tied to the Failure of NAFTA

The trade agreement left rural and urban Mexicans worse off than they'd been.

by Octavio Ruiz

The 12 million Mexicans working in the United States who will be criminalized by proposed immigration legislation are the same people who were promised the possibilities of a decent living with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

It is ironic that House conservatives who want to execute these anti-immigrant policies are the same ones who signed the trade agreement, which only has brought poverty to the Mexican people for the last decade and years to come. No level of heightened criminalization will reduce the flow of immigrants to the United States when we endorse trade agreements that give people little choice but to leave the countries of their birth.

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, the number of immigrants to the United States from Mexico actually decreased by 18 percent in the three years before NAFTA's implementation. But in the first eight years of NAFTA, the annual number of immigrants from Mexico increased by more than 61 percent.

The cause was twofold. First, NAFTA's agricultural provisions resulted in a flood of subsidized corn being imported into Mexico from the United States. The effect in rural areas was that some 1.5 million rural families -- and some researchers claim twice that -- were driven out of business. Their only options were to move to the cities and seek whatever work, at whatever wage, could be found, or to cross the border. A very large number chose the second option.

<more>

[Skidmore]

7. I would argue that it has been a disaster for the US worker

as well. And personally, I would rather NAFTA be repealed and we start taking care of our own citizens for a change, while demanding that these other nations start addressing the needs of their own citizens. The Rs are wrong on this and the Dems right now are not right about it either.

[Igel]

6. No.

Plausibly increased rates of illegal immigration are tied to NAFTA, but illegal immigration certainly existed as a serious problem (or an important moral good) before NAFTA and would almost have certainly increased.

Mexico has too many people, an inefficient economy, and a largely non-technically-savvy population. This means that any economy, esp. one that's easily accessible, that will hire grunt or minimally skilled labor is attractive if the wages are higher. If we shared a border with Pakistan instead of Mexico, or with Botswana, we'd be having the same discussion about different ethnicities.

Moreover, since much of the population was rural and fecund, and you can only subdivide land so much before working it can no longer feed a family, the excess population has to go some place. Mex. City is a favorite destination; so is the US.

With rising expectations, rural subsistence farming is less attractive. Same thing happened in the US, as small truck farmers found their kids didn't want to be truck farmer.

Mexico's also got an unbalanced economy: birth rates are fairly high all over (by US standards), but employment opportunities are higher in the north ... this, in fact, is a result of NAFTA and outsourcing of US labor to Mexico. But since Chinese workers want less money than Mexicans, job growth in the north has also slowed.

[Elwood P Dowd]

8. Illegal immigration was decreasing prior to NAFTA

It has increased over 60% since NAFTA.